2004 Prospects: Q&A with Dave Bolland

By Jason Ahrens

January 29th, 2004

Dave Bolland a center with the London Knights has shot up the rankingsfor the NHL draft this year

Dave Bolland, a center with the London Knights,has shot up the rankings for the NHL draft this year. In his rookie year withthe Knights in 2002-03, Bolland saw mainly fourth line duty, which in Londonmeans only a few shifts a game. He was the Knights first round pick from the2002 Bantam draft, but they decided to break him in very slowly. The native ofMimico, Ontario came into the league with big numbers from bantam but found ittough sledding in his first OHL season. In 64 games he scored seven times andadded 10 assists. He had a strong playoff series against both Windsor andPlymouth and showed that he had the potential for better things. Coming intothis season, few people would have predicted the fairy tale season that hasunfolded for Bolland.

[if !supportEmptyParas] [endif]

The sophomore center has been a big part of the Knightssuccess as they are currently leading the league in points, goals, goalsagainst and virtually every other statistical category. His play caught the eyeof scouts who finally got a chance to get a real good look at him and in thepreliminary rankings by Central Scouting he was ranked the 6th bestskater in the OHL. A few months later Central Scouting had moved him up quite afew spots as they ranked him the 6th best skater in North America.One advantage that Bolland has on his draft class counterparts may be that hehasn’t been seen a lot, since quite often the more the scouts see a player andthe hype wears off, the more faults they start finding in his game.

[if !supportEmptyParas] [endif]

What the scouts have seen in Bolland is a lot of speed, hardwork, grit and the ability to put the puck in the net. Bolland is currently ina battle for the most goals in the OHL and has 31 goals so far this year, whichcurrently puts him in third place. Pretty impressive when one considers that heplays on the third line in London, and is not always on the top 2 power playunits. When he is on the power play he often comes up with good results butwith many talented forwards on the team there is only so much ice time for acoach to dish out.

[if !supportEmptyParas] [endif]

Bolland has shown excellent hockey sense while killingpenalties and uses his speed to break up plays and intercept passes. Hispositioning and angles while short handed are excellent and he gives defencemenfits in the neutral zone. He is often put out against the other team’s top linebecause of his hockey sense and willingness to finish off checks. He gives thechecking line a lot more chances to score goals and this gives London a bigadvantage when matching lines.

[if !supportEmptyParas] [endif]

Bolland is not the biggest guy at 6’0” and 175 pounds but hedid fill out a lot over the summer. Scouts will be keeping a close eye on himas the league tightens up in the playoff hunt and see how he fares when thegames are hotly contested and there is little room to skate. Since the earlypart of the season Bolland has had about 10 more goals than assists and youmight jump to the conclusion that he is not the greatest passer. His passing isactually fairly decent, as he showed in a recent game against the SaultGreyhounds where he took a page out of Gretzky’s book and set up shop behindthe net and drew the attention of all the defending players to him until hefound one of his defensemen open coming in from the point and fed him for abeautiful goal. With his speed he is usually leading the rush and he oftenplays with linemates on the third line that think defense first and do not getinto good scoring positions.

[if !supportEmptyParas] [endif]

Bolland played for Team Cherry in the 2004 CHL Prospect Gameand picked up an assist in a losing cause. He played a spirited game and drewthe wrath of several opposing defensemen. He had a great skill contest as hehad the second best time in the 60 foot dash, seventh in the 150 foot dash,eighth in the puck control event and his shot was clocked at 90.8 miles perhour. One week after the Prospects game he took part in the OHL All-Star gameand picked up a goal and an assist in helping the Western Conference to an easy7-2 win.

[if !supportEmptyParas] [endif]

Hockey’s Future caught up with Bolland after the Prospect’sGame.

[if !supportEmptyParas] [endif]

Hockey’s Future: What was it like playing for DonCherry?

Dave Bolland: It was great, he is a good guy, he always gotus going in the dressing room when we were down a bit.

[if !supportEmptyParas] [endif]

HF: Was that thefirst time that you met him?

DB: No I met him a few years before, I forget where.

[if !supportEmptyParas] [endif]

HF: And Bobby Orr?

DB: I met him a few years before at the OHL Bantam Cup.

[if !supportEmptyParas] [endif]

HF: It’s been a dream year for you, last year sitting on thebench, getting 3-5 shifts a game and now you are like third in the OHL ingoals?

DB: Yeah it’s been a big year for me, like you said from lastyear sitting on the bench, not sure if I was going to get out there or if I wasgoing to sit, and now this year, I’m on the power play, PK, and playing aregular shift out there.

[if !supportEmptyParas] [endif]

HF: What was your biggest adjustment coming from Bantam tothe OHL last year?

DB: The speed and the size. When I got here I didn’t weighthat much and I wasn’t a big boy, and the speed, guys were flying by and I wasjust looking at them.It’s a bigadjustment coming from bantam to the OHL.

[if !supportEmptyParas] [endif]

HF: In the second half your ice time picked up and youstarted to see some time on the power play unit, when did you find your seasonturned around for you?

DB: I think in the second half, but in the playoffs, that’swhen (coach) Dale (Hunter) really started to put me in.

[if !supportEmptyParas] [endif]

H: You had a great series against Windsor, started to seeyour potential.

DB: It really came out against Windsor, I think he just letme play.

[if !supportEmptyParas] [endif]

HF: Over the summer what were your expectations going intothis year?

DB: This year, it was to get drafted. And for the summer Iwanted to get a lot bigger and put on twenty or twenty five pounds.

[if !supportEmptyParas] [endif]

HF: Did you ever think that you would be ranked in the top 6in North America at this time?

DB: Right now I’m wishing I would go high and it’s startingto come true.

[if !supportEmptyParas] [endif]

HF: The London Knights have put quite a few guys in the NHLover the last 3-5 years between the Hunter regime and the previous regime.Do you guys have much contact with the guys,like Rick Nash, John Erskine?

DB: Yeah I talk to Rick Nash sometimes and he tells me whatit’s like up there.

[if !supportEmptyParas] [endif]

HF: He is sure having a dream season. That could by guyslike you, Corey Perry, Rob Schremp.

DB: Well that could be us in a few years and it would begreat if it was.

[if !supportEmptyParas] [endif]

HF: Your team is a pretty strong team, you are at the top ofthe league. What the biggest adjustment that you have to make to stay on top?Teams are really starting to try the trap against you.

DB: Yeah they are trying to trap us a lot.They are trying to break us down, get thepuck into our zone, when we get the puck we like to get it in their zone andtake it down low to score. I think our biggest adjustment is just getting it indeep and not letting them trap us.

[if !supportEmptyParas] [endif]

HF: You took quite the wicked hit tonight. The guy took apretty generous run at you, did it leave any marks?

DB: Yeah a couple of them on my face, but that just comeswith the game.

[if !supportEmptyParas] [endif]

HF: You did really well in the skills contest, you chartedpretty high in the shot and the skating categories?

DB: Oh yeah, I expected to do well going in and I was reallypumped up for it and I did well.

[if !supportEmptyParas] [endif]

HF: For someone who is not familiar with you, describe yourstyle of play.

DB: Gritty, I’m a Mike Peca type of player, a lot ofhitting, scoring, doing whatever I can to help the team win.

[if !supportEmptyParas] [endif]

HF: You aren’t too shy to use your stick out there to letguys know that you are around.

DB: Nope I throw it around a bit out there. Yeah it’s partof the game and that is just the way that I play.